Saturday, December 22, 2007

BARRELING DAY, AT UNCLE WINEPATH'S WINERY

Today, the Napa-derived merlot was placed in a year-old french 23-liter barrel. The cabernet sauvignon, from central California, was put into a brand new french barrel. Both barrels had a medium toast preparation. Both young wines have high alcohol content, 13-14%; the merlot tastes harsh and fairly acidic, while the cab has deeper color and more pleasant taste. Both young wines have undergone malo-lactic fermentation, following their regular maceration of 8 days on skins and three rackings in individual carboys. We hope to "oak" for approximately 6 months.

2 comments:

Uncle N said...

This is a serious wine making. Somebody gave me a book of how to make wine. I will give it to you (although I am sure you do not need a book). Please do not top off the barrels with cheap jug wines.

winepath said...

The topping off is done with good quality australian dark, rich wines, which I found recently. Hard to keep up the habit, since you have to top off weekly. I've been thinking to order a case of Harlan for this purpose...